


tongue-tied on the truth

by hollow_city



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 5 Times, Angst, Coming Out, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, Gay Keith (Voltron), Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Homophobia, No Slash, Team as Family, Trans Character, Trans Keith (Voltron), except when it does because, happy pride month!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-31 00:44:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15108203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hollow_city/pseuds/hollow_city
Summary: one time keith was outed before he was ready and five times he was happy and comfortable enough to do it himself.





	tongue-tied on the truth

**Author's Note:**

> i've had this swimming around in my mind for... literally the whole month because obviously, it's pride month, but i kept pushing it and pushing it AND NOW I'VE REACHED THE LIMIT. i could put this out in july, but i refuse to give in. 
> 
> i've come out to people before, and it hasn't gone as horrible as it could have any of the times, but that doesn't mean people aren't still terrible sometimes. but it's pride month, and i couldn't make this all sad, so instead of it being five times it didn't go well, it's five times it did. because sometimes life is nice. 
> 
> and one last thing, i wasn't explicit with ships; you can ship whatever you please and read it however you wish. this isn't about the ships, so i didn't want to make it that way.

Keith loves the Garrison. He loves everything about it. 

The moment he got there, he knew everything would be different. Nobody knew him and that meant nobody knew who he was before. It also certainly helps that Shiro is at the Garrison, but that's just a plus. 

For the first two months that he's there, everything is going off without a hitch. He's acing all of his classes (with a little help from Shiro), and even though a few teachers have pulled him aside to warn him about his attitude, he hasn't gotten into the kind of trouble he used to. That may be in part because of the warning he had received from both Iverson and Shiro. The Garrison was taking a huge chance on admitting him earlier than most students, they had said. They were walking a fine line, they said. They told him he would have to be careful, because it was already a tricky situation.

Keith remembers what it was like before, so he takes that and he shuts his mouth when he really wants to drive his fist into someone's face. He doesn't always remember, and sometimes he ends up sitting outside someone's office, bruised knuckles and a frown on his face. 

But the one thing he thought he may never have to witness again is the pure hatred people have for people like him. 

 _People like him_. 

They say that like it's poison in their mouths, like he's some kind of inhuman creature that can't possibly be anything like them.

He's just like them, really. He just prefers dudes. 

"Don't touch me!" 

The words send a jolt down Keith's spine. His hand, which he had held out to help up the boy he'd accidentally knocked over, hangs in the air, untouched. Keith's arm eventually drops limply by his side and he frowns in confusion. Just the day before, he and Kyle were discussing the engineering test coming up. They weren't the best of friends, they weren't really friends actually, but they sat next to each other, so they talked as much as they had to.

And Kyle never seemed to have a problem with him before. 

"What?" Keith finally manages to get out. Kyle climbs to his feet, a sneer on his face. He snatches his spilled notebooks and textbooks from the ground and takes a step back. 

Kyle wipes the dirt from his uniform and smirks as people turn to look at them. "It'd be best if you stayed away from me."

"Why?" Keith asks because he really doesn't understand. What did he do in the course of twenty-four hours?

The other boy gives him a once over. "I don't want the fucking gay rubbing off on me."

Keith's entire body freezes. His mind spins and his hands shake where they rest in his pockets. If he heard this from anyone else, and if it was directed at anyone else, he would probably laugh. He would laugh his ass off, because isn't that just hilarious? As if being gay is contagious. 

But he doesn't laugh, because they're not supposed to know. Nobody at the Garrison is supposed to know. Not because Keith is ashamed, he most certainly is not, but because he is careful. He lived through enough years in foster care and straight through middle school to know that not everybody is going to like him for who he is. He's okay with that now, after spending countless hours in internet support groups and things like that. 

He wasn't going to tell anyone because it wasn't really their business, but it's too late now. 

He went and made a huge mistake. 

"It won't... rub off on you," Keith replies, his jaw tight.

He clenches his fist in his pocket and stamps down the urge to attack. He's been getting better, even Shiro said so. He hasn't gotten into a physical fight in two weeks and he's only ended up with detention once. He's been doing better. 

"Can't be too careful," Kyle tells him. His eyes travel over Keith's body and he gives a little shiver of disgust, like he can see a rainbow there or something. 

"How do you know he's... _y'know_ ," a girl asks, leaning over the back of her chair. Keith doesn't remember who she is. 

Kyle laughs and it's cold and cruel. "Saw him kiss that Miles kid with the red hair yesterday."

Keith's shoulders draw together tighter and he stares at the space on the wall over Kyle's shoulder. Yes, he had indeed kissed Miles in an empty hallway yesterday. He hadn't enjoyed it very much, and he won't be doing it again, but it's not like Miles was going to tell anyone, because they're in the same boat. The hallway wasn't as empty as they thought, Keith supposes. 

"So you're really a fa-" another boy starts, and the way his mouth twists, Keith knows he isn't going to like what comes out of his mouth next. 

"Shut the fuck up," Keith whispers before he can finish. He knows where it was going, and he doesn't want to hear it. 

Kyle's face morphs into one of exaggerated surprise. "So it  _does_ know how to talk!"

And this is why Keith wasn't going to say anything. He knows everyone isn't like this, but there are always people like Kyle. He finally manages to make his body move and the second he starts, Kyle steps into his path. 

"Aw, come on, Keithy, don't be like that," he pouts, and Keith hates the way his name sounds. 

"Get out of my way," he hisses, the anger lit like a fire beneath his ribs burning even stronger. When Kyle doesn't move a muscle, his sneer growing, Keith doesn't waste a second slamming him out of the way and making a break for the door. He can hear voices laughing behind him, but he doesn't stop.

He marches himself down the hall and straight for his room. He doesn't care that he has a class in a few minutes. He's going to skip it because he is not going to show up to class with red eyes and crushed hopes. 

When he makes it to his room, he slams the door open and closes it so hard a picture frame shudders and falls to the ground. He winces, but doesn't bother picking it up. 

"Whoa," a voice says and Keith looks up to find Shiro sitting on his bed, a stack of papers in one hand and a pen in the other. He has one eyebrow raised and his pen is frozen over the page. "What's got you so riled up? And aren't you supposed to be in class?"

Keith takes several deep breaths, trying to steady his thundering heart. He can't explode on Shiro. 

"I'm skipping," he says lowly and he knows Shiro isn't going to just  _let him_ do that, but he pretends he will anyway. 

Shiro puts aside his papers. "Want to tell me why?"

The room is silent for a few moments, the stillness only breaking when Keith moves to sit heavily on his own bed. He stares at his hands which are still shaking minutely from his experience. 

He could tell Shiro. He could spill his guts and tell him everything. He knows Shiro well enough to know how he would most likely react. 

At least, he thinks he does. He hopes he does. 

When he finally looks up and meets Shiro's eyes, the older boy is waiting patiently for him to say something. When they lock gazes, Shiro smiles reassuringly. 

"You can tell me what happened, Keith, I won't get mad," he says, and Keith knows he's telling the truth. He's never once been mad when he's had to come to vouch for him after a fight. 

Keith looks away from the other boy, the words he desperately wants to say stuck deep in his throat. He thinks about the smile Shiro gives only to him, full of encouragement and soft around the edges. He thinks about the look on Shiro's face when he saw the  _F_ on his birth certificate. The way he'd shrugged and taken it all in stride and continued to call him  _Keith_. He thinks about the warm hand on his shoulder as Shiro brought him to the Garrison for the first time. The proud look on his face when he introduced him to his best friend. The way he'd subtly bragged about Keith's amazing simulation scores. 

He crosses his arms across his chest and he looks Shiro dead in the eye. 

"Kyle found out I'm gay and gave me shit for it in front of everybody," he says, unable to keep the fury from his voice this time. 

Keith watches the changes that come across Shiro's face. Nothing happens at first, but then when Keith's words register, it morphs into surprise, goes blank, and then twists into unbridled anger. 

"He did  _what_ ," Shiro seethes, already on his feet. "What class does he have next?"

Keith decides not to address the way he's just skimmed over the biggest part of what he said and stands, too, reaching out to stop Shiro from stomping right out of their room.

"It doesn't matter, it's not a big deal," he says, trying his best to calm him down. "It's fine."

Shiro turns to look at him, his face turning a faint red. "No, it isn't. He outed you! Coming out is supposed to be  _your_ thing, no one else's!" 

He's right and something cold in Keith's stomach curls tighter, but he doesn't say anything. He just smiles. 

He knew Shiro would understand. 

-

Keith must be possessed. That is the only logical explanation for what is currently happening. There is no way the  _real_  Keith would ever do this willingly. 

But here he is, for some reason. Here he is standing at the edge of a clearing on a strange planet while dozens of happy people party in front of him. Voltron had liberated the planet just the day before and released them from Zarkon's iron fist, but the grateful inhabitants had insisted that the paladins return so they could be thanked properly. 

Now, normally, Keith would come up with any excuse to get out of it. He would pretend to be sick (which never really worked, Shiro knows him too well). He would pretend to have hurt himself during training (which would only result in Coran trying to shove him into a pod until he revealed his lie). Or he would just make himself scarce so the rest of the paladins would have to leave without finding him or they would be late to the celebration, too. 

This time, though, Keith had simply shrugged and told Shiro, " _Why not?_ " 

Keith sighs at his own foolishness and leans against the rock wall of the clearing. It's not the worst celebration that's ever been thrown in their honor. At least no one is coming up to him and drooling over his lion or demanding he tells them all about  _everything_. At least no one is shoving mysterious drinks into his hand and staring him down until he chokes it down. 

This time, nobody is being overbearing and annoying. 

But then Lance shows up. He slides up beside Keith and tosses an arm over his shoulders, a wide grin on his face. 

"Come on, my man, you can't hide in the shadows all day!" Lance says. 

Keith doesn't say anything as he peers up at him through his fringe. Lance sweeps his other hand, which holds some suspiciously luminescent drink, out in front of them. 

"Get out there, meet some new people," he continues, rocking back and forth on his heels. "I'm sure there's at least one lovely lady out there who'd put up with your ridiculous attitude and cactus-y exterior."

Keith still doesn't say anything as his eyes narrow. He shakes his head. 

Lance withdraws his arm from around his shoulders and knocks the back of his hand against Keith's chest plate. 

"You always say that," he sighs, disappointed. "Seriously, though. You really need to get out there, dude. How about her?"

He leans closer and points to a tall alien with bright blue skin and spiky orange hair. Her wide smile reveals sharp canines that come down over her bottom lip. She's tough and she's pretty. 

Keith sighs. After a moment, he mumbles, "no. Thanks anyway."

Lance clenches his fist in frustration before scanning the crowd and pointing to another alien. She has bright pink skin and a set of curled horns that stick up from a mess of darker pink hair. She's shorter than Keith and she's laughing herself to tears. She's cute. 

"No, Lance," Keith huffs, crossing his arms and looking up to the sky. 

Lance's eyes narrow and he glances at Keith through the corner of his eye. "What's with you?"

"Today?"

"Always."

Keith shrugs. He glances at Lance, and the other boy must see the twinkle in his eye because he immediately looks suspicious. 

"Just not the kind of person I'm looking for, I guess," he says. 

Lance crosses his arms. "Alright. What are you looking for, then?"

Keith shrugs again. He scans the crowd and it's a few moments before he speaks again. He's not looking for anybody, and he's definitely not looking for a relationship right now, but just to humor Lance, he points to someone a good distance from them. 

"Tall, green skin, amazing jawline," he tells him, waiting for Lance to figure out who it is he's pointing at. 

When he finally figures it out, he scoffs. "That guy is way too tall for you!"

Keith cocks his head. "Really? Hmm. You're probably right."

Lance nods sagely like he's full of  _all_ of the wisdom. He taps his finger against his forearm a few times before pointing in the opposite direction.

"Okay, but that guy, though," he says. Keith follows his finger and finds himself staring at a shorter guy with pale blue skin and wide, sparkling purple eyes. 

Keith reaches out to press his hand against Lance's shoulder, not taking his eyes off of the alien.

_"Yes."_

-

Keith has been wearing a binder for going on six years now. He never considered surgery because of both the price and incredible inconvenience, so he's been wearing a binder nearly every day since he turned thirteen. 

But just because he's been doing it for so long doesn't mean he's an expert of any kind. Sometimes he still wears it for too long and ends up with a bone-deep ache when he breathes in for a few hours. Sometimes he has to disappear off to the bathroom or his room to adjust it even though it isn't supposed to shift like it does. Sometimes he sweats straight through it and still refuses to take it off even when he's nearly down from a heatstroke. 

And sometimes he still can't get it on or off properly. He knows it isn't necessarily the easiest task for  _anybody_ , but usually, he's pretty good with it. Usually, he can get it on and off with no trouble and take that wonderful first deep breath without it on. 

This is not one of those times. This is one of those times where he's so sweaty that every inch of the thick fabric catches on his skin and his shoulder aches as he tries to pry it over his head. 

"Fuck," Keith grumbles, pacing around his room as he shifts his torso every which way in an attempt to make it easier. 

He eventually resorts to jumping up and down and violently pulling at it. He's on his third jump when he catches sight of himself in the tiny mirror inside the wall in the corner. 

He stares at himself, twisted to the point of pain and hunched over like an old man. 

Maybe he's more tired than usual. Maybe he's been working himself too hard. Maybe he's just in a mood. 

Because after a few moments of staring at himself, he bursts into hysterical laughter. He hunches in on himself even further and rests his free hand over his stomach. Each breath he sucks in only fuels more laughter and he laughs and laughs until his eyes are full of tears. 

With a fresh stream of giggles, Keith stumbles over to his desk and slaps his hand around until he finds the phone that Pidge had made for him. He wipes his face with the back of his hand and presses the call button next to Pidge's contact. 

After a few moments, the call connects and Pidge's voice floats through. "What."

Keith clears his throat, trying his hardest not to laugh again. "I need your help with something if you're not busy."

Pidge hums for a few moments before something clicks and they grunt. 

"Where are you?" they ask. 

"In my room," he replies, catching sight of himself in the mirror once more and putting every fiber of his being into not laughing. 

"I'll be there in a sec," they tell him before the call disconnects. 

Keith waits patiently, catching his breath after the bout of laughter. He sits there on his bed, twisted and chuckling until someone knocks on his door. 

"Come in!" he calls out, watching as the door slides open and Pidge shuffles their way in. Their head is buried in their tablet, but when Keith clears his throat, they look up. 

When they see the situation Keith is in, their eyes widen slightly with shock, before the shock fades and they press the back of their hand against their mouth. Keith can see the amusement twinkling in their eyes, but once they see that Keith is laughing too, they remove their hand and let loose a loud bark of laughter.

"I know," Keith says. "Trust me, I know. When you've had your fill, help me out of this, would you?"

Pidge takes another moment to laugh before they nod quickly and move forward to help him out of it. The two of them continue to smile as Pidge helps him pull the twisted and rolled up binder over his shoulders and his head. 

"Thank you, Pidge," he says once he's pulled his shirt over his head and tossed his binder in the pile of clothes he needs to be washed. There isn't much, because none of them have much, but that binder is sweaty enough that he can't even fathom wearing it again until he's washed it. 

"No problem," they say. "Sorry for laughing, it's just, I've done that so many times."

And, yeah. Keith gets it. 

-

The worst part about being shot into space with absolutely no time to prepare was that Keith was only able to bring the clothes on his back. He only had one set of clothes, and worse yet, one binder. 

Before Voltron, he was the kind of guy to wear the same clothes for three days straight, and the same binder for two weeks without fail. He never really cared about it before because he never had to be presentable; he lived alone in a shack in the middle of nowhere. Nobody would care. 

But now he's in space and he has to hand wash his binder every single day and hope it dries over the air vent by the morning. 

So when Coran tells them that they're going to stop at a space mall, Keith knows exactly what he's going to be looking for. Sometimes the space malls they visit have things they've all decided to call  _Earth stores_ , which are essentially just stores that hold all kinds of things people have somehow gotten from Earth. Usually they just pick up little trinkets and dumb things to remind them of home, but this time, Keith has a plan.

He needs another binder, and while the odds of finding one are very slim, he has to at least try. 

When they arrive at the mall, everyone goes in different directions. Lance and Pidge split off to try and find an electronics store. Ever since they bought that gaming console they've been looking for other games to play on it with no luck. Shiro and Coran went off together somewhere, but Keith thinks they only did that because they were deep in an argument about which star system is the best. Allura had decided to stay and guard the Castle because they've all learned their lesson about leaving the Castle unattended. 

Keith stands beside Hunk and watches them go, before turning to the taller boy. 

"Where are you going?" he asks. Hunk shrugs.

"I was thinking of stopping by the Earth store," he replies. "Wanna come?"

A tiny smile adorns Keith's face and he nods slightly. As much as he likes being alone, he thinks it would be easier to find what he's looking for if he has two sets of eyes. 

When they make it to the Earth store, both of them are struck by the sheer size of it. They stand side by side in the doorway and stare up in awe at the  _two floors_ full of things from their home. Keith can see the beginning of what looks like a clothing section on the second floor in the back corner, so he snaps himself out of his stupor and heads that way. 

"What are you here for?" he asks Hunk when the other boy follows close after. 

He shrugs. "I don't know. I just figured I'd browse. There's probably  _something_ good here."

Keith nods along as he climbs the stairs two steps at a time. When he reaches the top, he wastes no time getting to the back corner. It's packed full of some of the weirdest clothes he's ever seen, and a plethora of things that look like they were made in the eighties. The other half of the selection is all kinds of stuff. Stuff that looks recent and stuff that looks older than time. 

And then something catches his eye. It's a small stack with maybe three or four things. They're all bright red, and if they are what he thinks they are, he's struck gold. He approaches the shelf, but upon further inspection... he is too short to reach them. Because of course. Of course, he's cursed with being only five and a half feet tall. He glances around, makes sure Hunk is looking at something else, and stands up on his toes to try and stretch to reach it. He curses inwardly when his fingers make contact with the edge of the shelf. He stretches even further, but nope, he's too short. 

With a huff, he falls back to flat feet and crosses his arms in his frustration. 

"Hunk?" he calls out quietly, a blush lighting up his face. He's not embarrassed, he swears. He's not jealous that Hunk is a good six inches taller than he is. He's not jealous that literally everybody on the team but Pidge is taller than him. Of course.

"Yeah?" Hunk's face pops up from behind a display and Keith is reminded yet again that yes, Hunk is much taller. 

"Could you... help me with something?" Keith mumbles, casting his eyes to the floor. 

"What's up?"

Hunk appears beside him and waits patiently for Keith to speak again. With a sigh, the boy points to the shelf. 

"I need what's up there, but I... can't reach it," he grumbles. He had thought he was used to everyone being taller than him, especially after having spent a few years as a roommate to Shiro, who's a good six foot two. 

Hunk smiles and immediately reaches up. "Oh, yeah, I can get it!" He grabs the whole stack and brings it down. It takes him a moment to realize what it is, and when he does, his eyes widen minutely. 

"Oh," he says. "You're... okay! What size do you wear?"

Keith can't help the smile that splits his face as he leans forward to get a good look at them. They don't actually look like they were even made on Earth even though they're currently standing in the Earth store, but he's not going to complain. He sifts through the few that are there, and to his utter delight, finds  _two_ in his size. 

"This one," he says quietly as he pulls them out. "Can you put the rest back, please?"

"Of course," Hunk says, and because Hunk is great, he's smiling too. 

-

Alteans are a shapeshifting people, Allura had said. And then proved. Like twelve times over. So Keith knew things like gender were definitely not going to be so black and white for them like they are on Earth.

Allura is the last to know, and it's not because he doesn't trust her or anything, he just never got around to telling her. But now he's going to, because goddamn, if the cramps he's suffering through get any worse, he might just ask Red to breathe some fire on his abdomen to put a stop to them. 

"Keith, is everything all right?" Allura asks him before he can say anything. She's sitting in the lounge and watching something on the TV that Pidge had set up. It's a movie from some shop they visited and it's just about the strangest thing Keith's ever seen. He looks away and collapses onto the couch beside the princess.

"Ugh," he huffs, leaning his head back and staring up at the ceiling. His eye twitches at the sudden twinge in his abdomen. 

"What's wrong?" she asks, straightening up in her concern. "Are you hurt?"

Keith snorts. "Technically, no."

Allura's head cocks. "What do you mean?"

With a sigh, Keith explains. "I'm sure Pidge has told you that on Earth, every month, certain people go through... some shitty stuff."

Apparently, that's all he needs to say because Allura claps her hands together. 

"Oh!" she exclaims. "Pidge  _has_ told me about this. It sounds absolutely awful!"

"Yeah, that's because it is," Keith retorts. "It's just really bad for me this time."

Allura nods slowly, but then her face morphs into one of confusion. 

"I was under the impression that only female bodies underwent this," she tells him, and Keith frowns. 

"Yeah," he says blankly. "Well, technically."

Allura's confusion intensifies. "But you're-" she starts before she cuts herself off. "Oh! Pidge explained this to me, too!"

Keith's very thankful for that because he's not sure he could sit through a conversation about human biology right now. He crosses his arms over his stomach and sinks further into the couch. 

"I'm male, even though I get it," he tells her, just to make sure, and Allura claps again. 

"Well, of course you are!" she replies. "Is there anything I could get for you? Pidge asked for heating pads when it was bothering them. Would that help you, too?"

Keith's gaze flickers away from the horrible movie and over to the sparkling blue and purple eyes. 

"Yeah," he says. "That would be great."

Allura smiles and stands up immediately to make her way to the medical bay. Just as she's about to go through the doorway, Keith says one last thing. 

"Thanks, Allura."

She looks over her shoulder and mirrors his soft smile. 

"Of course, Keith. I promise you, it will  _never_ be a problem." 

And Keith can't help but be happy because even if he is stuck in space, far away from everything he's ever known, fighting an intergalactic war, he's got the best family thirteen-year-old-Keith could have ever imagined. 


End file.
